Social work Research II

TJ is a 15-year-old black kid of Caribbean descent. They moved and lived with his father, a single dad when he was eight years old when his mother passed away—a parent with a busy schedule and little free time to keep an eye on their kids. The patient has a terrible track record with education and is at risk of failing out of high school. ABC Leadership created a mentorship program called RISE (Re-Integrating Kids into Education) to help at-risk adolescents get back on track academically and eventually graduate from high school. Students on the edge of dropping out of high school are RISE’s focus. Through this program, Mentors in social work, counseling, and other caring professions are placed in New York City schools (Mitteer, Greer, Fisher & Cohrs, 2018). These individuals provide kids with knowledge and abilities to overcome obstacles, allowing them to become more engaged in school life and eventually return to regular classes. TJ was placed in the RISE program after accumulating 18 days of tardiness and eight days of absences since the current school year. The school’s associate dean of guidance and counseling recommended that he join the program.

Target Problem and Goal 

This research aims to evaluate whether TJ’s absenteeism may decrease by engaging in the RISE program while he still receives assistance. If this is possible, then the study will be considered successful. Throughout the whole of the intervention, talk therapy and solution-focused therapy will be used. Because it provides a variety of critical notes and thorough descriptions after communications that are delivered, this treatment is crucial for the patient. The patient’s ideas may be brought together with the help of feedback since the information provided and received can be utilized in the same way (Di Noia & Tripodi, 2008). Solution-focused brief therapy, often known as SFBT, is a strength-based kind of psychotherapy that focuses on constructing solutions rather than resolving problems. In contrast to other types of psychotherapy, which concentrate on current issues and their historical roots, solution-focused behavioral therapy (SFBT) focuses on how your current circumstances and future aspirations affect you.

One method that may be included under the heading of constructive treatments is solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT). The theory of constructivism holds that individuals can give meaning to experiences and, in the end, are the architects of their reality. The SFBT therapist thinks it is impossible to avoid change in one’s life (Walden & Feliciano, 2022). The fact that an individual is the creator of their reality means they can improve themselves (Kazi, 2019). The therapist’s role in SFBT is that of an experienced dialogue facilitator. They do not put themselves as experts but come from a position of “not knowing” about the subject at hand. The therapist uses a wide range of approaches and inquiries, drawing on the client’s knowledge of themselves and their situation, in order to uncover the client’s capabilities, resources, and goals (Mitteer, Greer, Fisher & Cohrs, 2018). After the conversation with a client shifts to concentrate on the aspects of the client’s life that are going well and on how things will seem when they have been improved, there is more opportunity for the answers to appear.

Intervention Plan 

This research aims to examine whether TJ’s involvement in the RISE program while receiving financial help influences his absence. If this is possible, then the study was worthwhile. During the session, both talk therapy and solution-focused treatment will be employed. This treatment is critical for the patient since it provides various crucial notes and extensive explanations following messages. Because the patient may utilize both the information given and received, feedback may assist in bringing the patient’s ideas into harmony (Gómez-Pérez et al., 2020). Solution-focused brief treatment is short psychotherapy that focuses on growing strengths rather than addressing problems (SFBT). Solution-focused behavioral therapy (SFBT) is distinct from other types of psychotherapy in that it focuses on the present and future.

Solution-focused brief therapy is one example of a positive treatment (SFBT). Constructivists think that by attributing value to their experiences, individuals build their worlds. The SFBT therapist thinks that no one can remain in a condition of stasis indefinitely. Because each individual is the architect of their own experience, they have the ability to grow individually (Kazdin, 2021). In SFBT, the therapist serves as a skilled dialogue facilitator. They do not pretend to be experts but rather confess to “not knowing” much about the subject at hand. The therapist may use a variety of strategies and inquiries that depend on the client’s current awareness of themselves and their circumstances to assist the client in discovering their strengths, resources, and ambitions (Di Noia & Tripodi, 2008). The answers are more likely to surface once the conversation with a client shifts to focusing on the aspects of the client’s life that are going well and how things will appear after they have been improved.

Measurement

Self-anchored rating scale (measure school refusal with the intervention of Talk Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy)- SCALE I MADE: SSRD Self-Anchored Scale

PG 54 in TXB assesses the extent of the client’s problem, the extent to which the client can refuse a request to do something that he/she does not want to do, useful for gathering information unique to the client’s problems, needs, and resources

Five-point scale

1- unable to refuse

2- Say “yes”

3- Difficulty refusing

4- Consider request before responding but say “yes” anyway

5- able to refuse

Ordinal level

Self-anchored rating scales are unique to the client and allow the clinician and client to discuss the client’s depression (problem) in terms defined by the client

TXB PG 60

SSRD Self Anchored Rating Scale

Figure 1. Title and question 1 (Source: Google, 2022)

SSRD Self Anchored Rating Scale

Figure 2. Question 2 and question 3 (Source: Google, 2022)

SSRD Self Anchored Rating Scale

Figure 3. Question 4 and question 5 (Source: Google, 2022)

A number of different processes or measuring scales need to be considered while doing research in the social sciences, as proposed by Stevens’ (1946) methodological approach (Epstein et al., 2021). Different types of scales of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales) exist because the theory of measuring things takes into account different ways to assign numbers to the things being measured. Each scale of measurement has its own set of unique mathematical properties and relies on specific statistical methods.

Because of the critical difference between continuous and discrete features, Marradi (1981) calls for a reconsideration of the scaling approaches utilized in social research. In example, Marradi (1981) argues that Stevens’ theory of scales is flawed because it overly generalizes the concept of “measuring” to include only numerical counts and/or hierarchical arrangements of the qualities being studied (Cabanas, Grant & Moret, n.d.). The Author is advocating for a new definition of measuring in this context. He argues that, unlike in the scientific sciences, where units of measurement are determined a priori and independently of the topic, social science objects with continuous properties lack such units.

Therefore, much as quantifiable continuous properties, many qualities pertinent to the social sciences may be thought of as continuous including psychic properties, beliefs, attitudes, or values (authoritarianism, social cohesiveness, familism). They differ from ordinal variables in that there is no standard unit of measurement; this necessitates the use of scaling techniques, which can lead either to variables that cannot be treated as cardinals or to variables that are treated as cardinals, depending on how the properties of measures are conceived (Cabanas, Grant & Moret, n.d.). Here, it is examined and contrasted regarding two different scaling methods for measuring ordinal and cardinal variables: the Likert scale, widely used to gauge respondents’ opinions, and the self-anchoring scale proposed by Cantril in 1965.

Research Design 

The design of the research entailed the use of questionnaires, which the participants in the study were required to fill out and return with responses to several questions about the same topic. It is common practice in the field of research to collect data via the use of questionnaires since they are a quick, reliable, and cost-effective technique of amassing a substantial quantity of data from a large sample population (Talbott & De Los Reyes, 2022). These instruments are very efficient when it comes to assessing the behavior, preferences, intentions, attitudes, and views of the subject. In spite of the fact that it has been established that research on absenteeism is important, the prior studies that were conducted lacked clear and consistent assessment of school absenteeism, which makes it difficult to draw a conclusion from research that was done in the past (Gottfried, 2009). As a result of the fact that the terms “school absenteeism” and “truancy” are sometimes used interchangeably to denote the same thing, it is difficult to define. An additional factor that contributes to operations being more difficult is the fact that absence is defined differently in each state.

References 

Cabanas, J., Grant, K., & Moret, H. (n.d.). SSRD Self-Anchored Scale. Google. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbEHp_fqqaUlwyjOho1- vdCDl7LHRedjTqSUP8ZhIxdQHA5g/viewform

Di Noia, J., & Tripodi, T. (2008). Single-Case Design for Clinical Social Workers (Second Edition). NASW Press.

Epstein, L. H., Bickel, W. K., Czajkowski, S. M., Paluch, R. A., Moeyaert, M., & Davidson, K. W. (2021). Single case designs for early phase behavioral translational research in health psychology. Health Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/hea0001055

Gottfried, M. A. (2009). Excused versus unexcused: How student absences in elementary school affect academic achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 392–415. doi: 10.3102/0162373709342467

Gómez-Pérez, M. C., García-Palacios, A., Castilla, D., Zaragozá, I., & Suso-Ribera, C. (2020). Brief acceptance and commitment therapy for fibromyalgia: Feasibility and effectiveness of a replicated single-case design. Pain Research and Management, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7897268

Kazdin, A. E. (2021). Single‐case experimental designs: Characteristics, changes, and challenges. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 115(1), 56-85. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.638

Kazi, M. A. (2019). Single-case evaluation by social workers. Routledge.

Mitteer, D. R., Greer, B. D., Fisher, W. W., & Cohrs, V. L. (2018). Teaching behavior technicians to create publication‐quality, single‐case design graphs in GraphPad prism 7. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 51(4), 998-1010. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.483

Talbott, E., & De Los Reyes, A. (2022). Making Sense of Multiple Data Sources: Using Single-Case Design Research for Behavioral Decision-Making. In Handbook of Special Education Research, Volume I (pp. 231-244). Routledge.

Walden, A., & Feliciano, L. (2022). A virtual reality intervention to reduce dementia- related agitation using single-case design. Clinical Gerontologist, 45(4), 1044- 1054. https://doi.org/10.1080/07317115.2021.1954121

Appendix

Extra Credit:SSRD Analysis

Part 1 In the table below, our data describe a CBT protocol in which a clinician/researcher is attempting to assist a client who is having difficulty going to class on time. The data takes the form of the client going to her classes or not going to her classes. This is the nominal level of measurement and so we will analyze it with the chi-square test. Go to this chi-square calculator and input the names for the categories as A phase and B phase. Then input “Went to class” and “Skipped class” for the groups. Then click “next” and enter the data for each of the four boxes. Then click “next” and select p=.05 and click again to calculate the chi-square. The chi-square calculator will yield the chi-square score and an associated p-value. If the p value is .05 or less, we say that we have achieved statistical significance. In our example of going to class, what is the p value that is associated with this calculation? Is the hypothesis that the treatment worked supported or refuted?  Part 2 Use the same protocol from Part 1 above and compute the chi-square for the data set above, but use this chi-square calculator with Fisher’s Exact Test because it can handle values of zero. Fill out the four boxes for “X and Y” (0, 6 on the first line and 6, 0 on the second line). The calculator will fill in the rest for you. What are the “Fisher Exact” findings from the calculation, and is the hypothesis that the treatment worked supported or refuted? Part 3 Compute the Wilcoxon signed rank test for the data set above at the p>.05 level of significance, one-tailed. Use the A phase data for “treatment 1” and the B phase data for “treatment 2”. What are the findings from “Result 1?” Is the hypothesis that the treatment worked supported or refuted? Part 4 Compute the Paired Samples t-test for the data set above at the p>.05 level of significance, one-tailed. Use the A phase data for “treatment 1” and the B phase data for “treatment 2”. What are the findings from the calculation, Is the hypothesis that the treatment worked supported or refuted?

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